THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2020

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Joe Scarborough

With the impeachment acquittal, the Super Bowl, the Democratic Debate, the Oscars and more on the table, it is perhaps easy for some stories to slip through the cracks. Or maybe for some stories to be shoved into the cracks, as it were, with the news noise as cover.

It was in that regard that MSNBC's Joe Scarborough addressed a story not getting very much coverage, when he defended CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King from an ugly attack by rapper Snoop Dogg.

King has been facing a torrent of criticism for a question she asked former WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant, which she says was shared without context by her network when it was shared online.

Snoop was among those critics, and went far past the line, said Scarborough on Monday, without being checked by the mainstream press.

"A black female journalist asked a tough question, in the middle of a wide-ranging interview, and because of that her life was threatened," he said. "'We’re coming to get you’ and the New York Times doesn’t write an editorial about this? The Washington Post doesn’t write an editorial, the Wall Street Journal doesn’t, nobody talks about?"

We at Green Room frequently note the win-worthiness of one calling out one's peers. To do so on a story that was slipping through the cracks, on very touchy subject, and in defense of a fellow journalist?

That definitely rates.
 
MEDIA LOSER:
The Oscars

The ratings for the Oscars this year are at an all-time low. Combined with bad press already on the table, it's bad sign for the aging show... and format.

The 92nd Academy Awards reportedly averaged 23.6 million viewers — down from last year and the worst in the program's long history.

The Oscars face fire from both ends of the political spectrum. From the left, over gestures at diversity, #MeToo concerns and more. From the right, mostly focused on the so-often-done-its-basically-a-cliché politicking during the speeches. From Ricky Gervais, for being preachy without self-awareness.

The political aspect gets most of the post-Oscar coverage on social media and on cable. As Joaquin Phoenix picked up the Best Actor award for Joker (itself a political hot button), he delivered a speech attacking the dairy industry. Brad Pitt got political during his speech, with a shout out to former national security adviser John Bolton.

Still, one would be hard-pressed to argue that turning off viewers who would find such speeches a turn-off is the dominant factor in the ratings decline of a show for which such viewers were not the primary audience in the first place.

But it creates a PR storm that insists on persisting regardless of or in absence of any real data. The many negative stories from Hollywood, and awards shows, coupled with abysmal ratings, is a clear losing media moment.

The A-Block

Any Given Sunday 

The Trump White House spends a great deal of time complaining that the press are obsessed with the President, that CNN builds their ratings around bashing the President and more. 

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham took it a different direction last week when speaking to Sean Hannity, claiming that the White House was being snubbed by the press. 

Grisham complained that “there is not going to be one White House official on any of the Sunday shows this weekend.” When Hannity asked her if officials were not even being invited, he replied that every network turned them down except for Fox Business.

“We offered up senior White House officials to every Sunday show, and they turned us down and even canceled,” she said. “Your own network canceled me. So, not one Sunday show is going to have us on.”

The Washington Examiner checked into that. Turns out CNN’s State of the Union and CBS’s Face the Nation flatly dispute this. Oh and another network called BS also: Fox News.

Wishing harm

It wasn't just a teacher in Wisconsin who made news by celebrating Rush Limbaugh's cancer diagnosis, it was also "lefties who hate Rush" on social media, said Brian Stelter on CNN's Reliable Sources.

“It’s revolting to me,” Stelter said. “As much as we talk about Trump and misinformation, there is a strain of contempt on the Left that also worries me. Why can’t people say ‘we hope Rush gets better quickly?'”

It was a smart and fair take from Stelter, and his panel agreed.

Sanders ahead, Biden behind
And you know that Bloomberg, just crossed our mind

Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the rest of the Democratic field in the latest Quinnipiac poll as the primary heads to New Hampshie. It's his first time in first in the poll, where he lead with 25 percent versus Joe Biden’s 17.

Meanwhile, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg took a surprisingly high place, and even edged out some folks who have enjoyed front-of-the-pack status.

Impeachment II: This Time, It's Also Impeachment

Trump foil and Kellyanne husband George Conway argued in an editorial on Monday that, yes, in fact, there may be another impeachment required.

The notion that Democrats would immediately try again for impeachment was the object of snark on the right in the wake of last week's acquittal, but Conway makes a scorching case.

Special channel

Attorney General William Barr confirmed that the Department of Justice created a special channel for President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others to provide information on Ukraine, Monday. 

This is quite a thing to confirm, one might say after reading Conway's op-ed.

Must-See Clip of the Day

Speaking of the Oscars ... and Losing

“As cast members of the motion picture Cats, nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects.”

Today's video hardly requires more explanation to warrant a click. But suffice it to say that James Corden and Rebel Wilson showed up on stage at the Oscars dressed as their characters from the wildly unpopular film Cats, and it was scary and funny. Or scary funny. Anyway, we were scared.

Won't you join our fear?

Links We Like

The Age of Celebrity is Dead: The Internet Has Killed the Hollywood Star
via Spectator USA
The Oscars Are an Insult to Cinema
- via The American Spectator

Petulant Nancy Pelosi Is Everything Wrong With Democratic Party
- via Miranda Devine, New York Post
Older Voters Are Getting Worried About Joe Biden
- via Huffington Post
Making Sense of Sports Illustrated’s Venture into the CBD Industry: ‘Strange to See’
- via Medaiite
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